How to get rid of Crow’s Feet

In our first blog of 2017, we look at one of the most common early signs of ageing – crow’s feet. We’ll explain how they happen, and how we can treat them effectively…

What are Crow’s Feet?
Crow’s feet are the small fine lines and wrinkles that appear around the outer edge of the eyes. They’re sometimes called laughter lines or character lines. People generally start developing them in their late twenties and they tend to deepen over time.

What causes crow’s feet?
These lines naturally occur as we age because the production of collagen, hyaluronic acid and elastin in our skin decreases. This can be dramatically accelerated by over-exposure to the sun.

At the same time, the muscles around the eye become weaker, working harder to do the same jobs. As a result, natural movements such as laughing, smiling and squinting all start to contribute to developing deeper lines.

How can I treat crow’s feet?
Knowing this, the two main routes to treating crow’s feet effectively are to address the over-active muscles around the eye and to make sure the skin has enough of what it needs to appear youthful.

1. Relaxing the over-active muscles
Crow’s feet are most pronounced when you work the muscles around your eyes, so their appearance is unavoidable when you smile, laugh or squint. A popular option to relax the muscles is to receive anti-wrinkle injections such as Botox®.

Botox®is the shortened name for Botulinum Toxin, a prescription medication that temporarily stops the muscles from receiving signals to contract. It works by blocking the chemical signal that travels from your nerves to your muscles. This can be applied with great precision to the small muscles at the edges of the eyes, so as to leave plenty of natural movement in the face while un-creasing the crow’s feet and giving the skin chance to recover.

2. Replenishing and stimulating the skin
For the skin itself, using medical grade skincare products will enhance and preserve the results of Botox. Even without Botox it will help to reduce the appearance of crow’s feet and prevent further lines from appearing.

Here are some of our favourite products to help reduce the appearance of crow’s feet.

Some are design to replenish the skin, some to protect it from environmental damage, and some even stimulate the skin cells themselves to resume greater production of collagen and elastin.